"History. It's just one bloody thing after another."

It's the 1980s and Cutler's School in the north of England sees a chance for some of its graduating students to land places in a prestigious university, advancing the school's reputation. The eight boys in one literature class are particularly promising, so the headmaster hires a part-time instructor to sharpen them up in history and to prime them for their university applications.

What follows is a study in relationships and a spirited debate on the nature of education.

Hector (Gary Morris) is the literature teacher, a gadfly who wants to instill a love of words in his pupils. He uses poetry, movie dialogue and music-hall lyrics to inspire them — not just to entertain.

Irwin (David Albert), the hired instructor, prefers to approach history by the side and back doors, to avoid obvious and boring recitation and to help the boys surprise and delight their university examiners.

The headmaster (Jerry Altwies) wants measurable progress and holds to the premise that education can be reduced to quantifiable metrics. Success comes from checking off all the boxes.

Mrs. Lintott (Jo Pruden), the sole woman on the faculty, has given the boys a sound foundation, but is brushed aside for their final preparation. Her marginalization cements her view of history as a long line of men, followed by women carrying buckets to clean up their mess.

Being teenagers, the boys are only mildly engaged in their teachers' debate, focusing instead on having fun and discovering sex.

Homosexual undertones provide the subplots, with Hector getting into trouble for fondling genitals as his choice boy of the day rides behind him on his motorcycle. Dakin (Cyrus Legg,) the alpha male of the class, manages to attract the attention of new instructor Irwin and a worshipful fellow student, Posner (Jacin Harter.)

But it's Morris' portrayal of Hector that gives the play its strong center. He's charming, ingratiating and delightful. Stubborn in his convictions and curiously unworldly in his perceptions of others, he inhabits an ivory tower built from innocent discovery. And, while he lords it over his pupils, alternately bopping them with a cardboard tube and fining them for failures, he does it without a shred of malice or superiority.

Directed by Brad Powell, the production has an unselfconscious charm that comes from a group of bright boys (several of whom look a few years out of their teens) who speak their minds, and a clutch of strong-minded but unthreatening teachers.

The action plays out briskly, with The Actors' Group taking full advantage of its new, larger quarters to intersperse live action with projected video clips that take the audience out of the classroom.

Legg is good as the self-assured and slightly arrogant Dakin, Harter is sweetly compliant as Posner, and Josh Imlay provides wry observations as Scripps, who watches the behavior of others with the eye of a journalist.

"The History Boys" maintains a unique and secure point of view in the growing gallery of teacher-student plays and movies.

Joseph T. Rozmiarek has been reviewing theater since 1973.